The Vast Importance of Tradition & Ancient Rituals
by Astaldotholwen
Summary: [ One Shot ] This story is based in the tiny village of Aiyume Japan. Three young teenages anger the village Spirits, will they be all right? [ Note: this is an Alternate Universe tale and does not take place in the world of Kingdom Hearts. ]


Title: The Vast Importance of Tradition and Ancient Ritual's

Written By: Astaldothôlwen

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Kairi or Sora. gets poked by Square and sigh's dejectedly All right! _All right_! I don't own Riku either. The Kusiro River however is a real river in Japan; so I don't claim to owning any demographic means towards this piece of property!

Every autumn, the village of Aiyume, Japan has prepared itself for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The village inhabitants created many wonderful types of food and clothing for this very special festival. The items were given as presents to the spirits of the village in order to please them; in turn, the village would be rewarded with good fortunes. The village adults made the preparations, however, the children had equally important jobs to do as well; which were to create charms with wishes and prayers of good luck for the approaching harsh winter months. These charms were adorned with symbols representing peace, honour, understanding and loyalty. Another task the children were expected to partake in was acting on their finest and most pleasing behavior.

The Cherry Blossom Festival was only two short weeks away, arrangements had already begun, and the village elders assigned different jobs. Every member of the village had an important task to accomplish, which they worked very hard at. However, not everyone was working as hard and diligently as the other villagers were. Three young teenagers named Sora, Kairi and Riku were lounging lazily on the bank of the mighty Kusiro River.

"I pity those poor people, working so hard, and for what? To please spirits that don't even exist," remarked Sora, a young fourteen-year-old boy. Sighing, he put his arms behind his head and closed his bright blue eyes.

"I know what you mean Sora, it isn't like the spirits are anywhere near us, I don't see why _we_ have to work like slaves for them, it makes very little sense," replied Kairi; the only female and youngest of the group.

"It's sad, the elders and parents, they try too hard to get us to work for the spirits, it's so much nicer to lounge around all day, basking in the warm light of the sun," cooed Riku, closing his eyes enjoying the sound of the river moving before his feet. Riku was the oldest of the group at fifteen, copied Sora and layed down on his back taking in the tranquil sounds of the Kusino.

The trio had grown up with the traditions and experiences as the other children; however, they refused to believe in the power of the spirits, which was both dangerous and frightening to the villagers. As the days continued onward, the parents tried with all their might to scare the teens into working hard for the spirits, yet nothing succeeded.

'_The spirits will burn our village down and create mass hysteria in our tiny village_' they said. '_Spirits are vengeful forces to be reckoned with! Imagine what our ancestors must be thinking!_' the villagers exclaimed. However nothing they said was successful.

As the days progressed and the Festival neared, so did the fright and anxiety of the villagers regarding the behaviour of the children. The other children of the tiny village tried working extra hard, in order to make up for the lost charms and appreciation of the three teenagers; yet not even these noble acts could ease these anxious minds.

As the village continued to work diligently; the days began to decrease, and before the village knew it; the festival was only a mere day away. Many villagers confined themselves into their homes early in the evening; worried about the spirits wrath and displeasure. The three teens decided this was a perfect opportunity to prove to every villager that the spirits were nonexistent. Despite their parents' pleas, they traveled to a nearby forest that was both dense and thick. The forest was also known for the fact that this was a popular home for the spirits.

"I cannot wait to see the looks on our parents' faces when we come back without a scratch or injury on us, it'll be wonderful! And next year, no one will have to do such silly and unnecessary work." Riku exclaimed happily. Kairi and Sora nodded diligently towards this comment.

As they continued to trek onwards, the forest began to get deeper and much thicker at an alarmingly abrupt pace. Deciding this was an opportune place to rest, the trio stopped and lit their candles due to the quickly darkening sky and forest. The wind grew strong and powerful, blowing out the candles of the group, and they were shrouded in darkness. As the wind continued to howl, the night grew more frigid. The trio huddled together in order to stay warm. Their blankets were blown around by the wind making it difficult to keep the heat in their bodies.

"The wind is howling like a thousand wolves tonight." Sora said shivering and attempting to cover his freezing body with his blanket.

Kairi lit the candles once more, keeping them close to her body in order to shield the tiny flames from the vicious wind. Once the candles were lit, the forest was not so foreboding and frightening. The candles gave enough radiance to keep lighthearted mood alive. As their eyes grew heavy, Sora decided to be the one to stay awake; in order to keep watch over the campsite. The wind had slowed significantly and Sora laughed to himself, thinking this was an easy quest and that the spirits were truly nonexistent.

Chiding himself for being a believer of spirits for so many years, Sora laughed and scoffed at himself for being so silly over the number of years wasted when he created lucky charms. As he sat there silently watching the candles burn, the flames moved and frolicked, as though they were dancing in the night. However, something caught Sora's attention, a faint whistling was heard in the distance. Rousing Riku and Kairi awake, they had decided to go investigate and find the source of the soft whistle.

Shivering, Kairi stated she was worried, that there were supposed demons who whistled, looking for sinners and other evil humans. However, she shrugged this notion off, deciding this was not the time to doubt their reasons or the adventure they were currently on.

As the trio moved onward, the whistling became louder and sounded more aggressive. The children continued to follow the sound until they were led into a tiny clearing, where the moonlight poured over them like a silver waterfall.

Smirking, Riku said, "See Kairi, there is nothing at all to worry about. There is nothing here. It was probably only the wind, you know as well as I do that those demon stories aren't real!"

Laughing at her foolishness, Kairi agreed. Turning around to Sora, they found him staring into the forest, wide eyed and frightened beyond reason. "Sora, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" she giggled.

As Sora walked to his friends, although he did not take his eyes off the forest, "Can you not see it Kairi?" he said pointing over to the tiny clearing. Riku quickly understood what Sora had been so frightened over.

"I don't see anything! You two are so childish sometimes, playing such a _trick_ on me! Here, let me show you there is nothing over there." She began to run towards the forest, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw it.

There, gazing out of the forest was an evil spirit, peering down at them maliciously. It was a skull, grinning fiercely. On the top of its head were two large bullhorns with razor sharp points. Its body was in the form of a serpent, with arms, which were attached to the body, just below the evil grinning skill.

As Kairi started to walk backwards, finding her friends, the ghost lunged towards her at an alarming rate; hands outstretched with menacing, sharp looking claws. Turning around, the group ran as quickly as possible, however, the ghost maintained a steady pace. Footstep after footstep, the trio grew closer to the village. As they ran between trees and bushes, the ghost continued to follow them. The lights of the village came into view as the trio ran for their lives.

Arriving at Sora's house, the trio huffed, puffed, and tried as hard as they could to catch their breath in their aching lungs. Explaining their frightening experience to Sora's parents; they had renewed their faith in the spirits.

The next morning, the trio woke up to a bright and sunny day. When they walked outside, they found something astonishing; the entire village was waiting outside of the home, waiting to hear the story of the encounter with the spirit. Walking outside, Sora put it simply, while clutching a charm with the word 'understanding' on it.

"What happened back in the forest last night, is not important. What is important is that Riku, Kairi and I have regained our respect and admiration for the spirits. They are as real as you or I, and we are sorry for the trouble we have caused the past few weeks with our neglect of the ancient traditions."

The three bowed lowly towards the crowd and life returned to normal in the small village of Aiyume.

Authors Notes: Okay, this is short I know. It was a mini project in English class; we had to make a ghost story and I didn't change anything in it from its original content. Oh, except the Kingdom Hearts character names so it fit with the category. I know, I know, that's lazy, but it's a cute story, starts off slow, but ah well! Oh good news! I got a new job! dances happily That won't take my priorities off of '_In The Darkness We Meet_' though, no worries! I shouldn't be getting full time hours, not until summer, and besides, its summer, so hey, I can stay up late and write more . One more note: I made up the name of Aiyume. Its comprised of two Japanese words: _Ai_: which is love, and, _Yume_: which is dream. Cute eh? As far as I know, its not a real village, and if it is, well, LoveDream village is a super-cute name!


End file.
